THE FIRE THIS TIME

MARCH 11 - APRIL 22, 2006

It is with great pleasure that Cavin-Morris Gallery presents their first dedicated show of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. The artists represented in this exhibition range from established artists to a new generation of emerging artists. All, however, are well known, collected and exhibited in Japan and by cognoscenti in Europe and the United States. Ryuichi Kakurezaki, Koie Ryoji, Mihara Ken, Hiroyuki Wakimoto, Takashi Nakazato, Jinembo Nakagawa, and others are just a few of the artists whose work will be shown. Most pieces chosen for the exhibition were made in anagamas (or wood-fired) kilns. The artists have each taken traditional forms and personalized them on many levels from kiln construction to manipulation of melting ash, to form surfaces that are timeless and fascinating. They are constant experiments in carefully controlled accidents. We will offer a selection of different forms of tokkuri and guinomi, the bottles and cups used for drinking sake. As well as highlighting unique forms, in this exhibition we will emphasize the sensual and tactile facets inherent in this pottery. For the artists in this exhibition, aesthetics, form and function blend seamlessly as their creations serve multi-tiered lives between utilitarian and contemplative aesthetics.

We will also show a selection of work by Jeff Shapiro, an American ceramicist who spent nine years studying and exhibiting in Japan. His dramatic work is respected and shown in Japan as well as the United States.

In addition to the ceramics we will feature the weavings of Hiroko Takeda, an artist who received formal training in traditional Japanese textiles and has taken these ideas to fascinating and dramatic new places. Takeda observes: "While my work is not limited to any particular theory or tradition, I have a continuing interest in expressing incongruous harmonies: a balance within an unbalanced state, an organic element arising from a synthetic structure, a ruin in stormy seas." This will be the first time Ms. Takeda is showing with Cavin-Morris Gallery.